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2% of new jobs are in the solar industry

From the beginning of the year 2017, the market for solar technology under the new guidance of the new president has shown that not much change is going to happen. The new government in place has no new policies. Many top industry leaders are trying to get more active at the federal level to gain support. The support at the top level is important in order for it to trickle down to the public users/customers.

The goal is eminent and that is credits of taxes. As of right now, United States citizens have the entitlement of 30% credit on any investments in solar projects. Right now the contract for future years such as in 2020, the entitlement will go down to 25%. From the year 2023 onwards, resident’s credit will go down to 0%, whereas for the commercial industry it will be a fixed 10% onwards.

What is important is that this tax credit does have a very good upside in the industry and needs to be maintained. It is important for government parties especially Democrats and Republicans to understand that this will be an ongoing importance for the American people.

Records High

The job market for the solar panel industry hit a record sale last year. It grew very quickly when compared to other industries within the United States economy. A total of 260,000 workers were accounted for jobs in the solar industry, a growth of over 25% from the year before. This shows the importance of the industry for the US economy as every 2% of new jobs created are related to solar technology. This industry now has more employees than that of people working for the natural gas industries. It is still behind the oil industry but that is not surprising at this moment. You could say that it is a success story and hopefully this will continue to the next decade.

There are concerns with President Trump’s focus on increasing the coal industry output and having negative comments about wind energy. On the flipside, he is in favor of any creation of new jobs from any industry and this includes solar.

Currently the majority of most jobs in solar projects involve installation of the units on residential houses. This accounts to 40% of the total workforce in the sector. The average pay for each of the workers is around $25 per hour.